Carpe Diem
by igmv
Summary: AU. Yuna & Gippal have been best friends for as long as they remember. Tidus & Rikku have been foster siblings for 8 years. Each of them from completely different worlds; all leading to the same place on one road. Watch as their worlds collide.


I wish I could, but I don't. I don't own anything. Sorry.

Hi there. I'm not a noobie at this stuff. I've read FFff all my life, like seriously. Anywho, this story was on my other account. IT'S NOT A COPY. Trust me, it's just that other account didn't belong to me. I hope you all will like this story. It's AU, just in case if any of you start flipping out about it. And it's gonna seem more of like modern days than Spiran times. Oh, and BTW there will be some images posted on my blog, that's posted on the profile, (such as outfits, objects, etc..) that will concern the story when needed. Please enjoy.

_Summary- _Yuna and Gippal have been best friends for as long as they remember. Tidus and Rikku are foster siblings who act like any other close brother and sister in Spira. Yuna and Gippal have been living in the laid back village of Besaid. Tidus and Rikku have been living in the bustling city of Zanarkand. Yuna and Gippal are going on a road trip around Spira during the summer for Gippal's 18th birthday. Tidus and Rikku are visiting Luca for the Blitzball Championships. Yuna is a talented ballet dancer and soon-to-be high school valedictorian with a degrading home life. Rikku is a Daddy's Girl and a hyperactive little fireball who hardly ever seems to settle down. Gippal is a juvenile delinquent and arrogant asshole who always goes by impulse. And Tidus is an all-star athlete that was recruited into the Abes and their soon-to-be star player. Unexpectedly, their worlds all collide.

RATING WILL GO UP.

**PLAYLIST:**

001. Vagabond - Wolfmother

(UPDATED 11/14/10) Hey guys! Reason for my writer's block was how the story plot worked out. Sooo, I pulled some strings and changed some stuff - mostly dealing with Tidus. But ENJOY! :D

* * *

**Carpe Diem**

Chapter One - Freeway

* * *

_Yuna._

As the final bell rang, signaling that school was over for the summer, all the students rushed out of their classrooms throwing an assortment of papers everywhere. Sometimes I felt as if they bought a whole stack of papers the day before, purposely wasting it and ruining the environment. While the other classmates were stampeding and parading out of the small, cramped room, I was slowly picking up most of the papers that I came upon and throwing them into the classroom trash can.

When I finished throwing most of the papers away, Mr. Maechan nodded his head in gratitude and gave me a grin, "Thank you very much, Miss Braska."

"You're welcome, Sir." I nodded my head and did a small bow.

"Now go on and have a splendid summer." He slightly nodded his head towards the door.

"Thank you, Sir, and you too," I responded and as I slowly strolled out of the classroom I found that the hallways were empty. All that was left were papers and flyers everywhere and lockers left wide open. I heard a small murmuring sound to my left and saw a girl talking animatedly to her cell phone.

I found myself walking to my locker since I practically procrastinated on my task of cleaning and sorting it out. As soon as I approached my locker, which was the only closed locker out of the whole group of now fully opened lockers, I unlocked it and found six binders, tons of papers, and other stuff.

_Oh dear Yevon._

While I was cleaning out my locker, I felt a tap on my shoulder, which shocked me since I was moping about how I was the only one in the hallway cleaning out my locker and how much of an idiot I looked. Immediately, I spun around and was just about to nin-kun-chuk that person, but then I saw that behemoth's face.

"Hello there Lady Yuna." He wagged his perfectly shaped eyebrows at me.

"Ughh, shut up Gip." I rolled my bicolored eyes at him and ruffled his perfectly gelled hair.

"Gah!" Once I released my hand, he frantically began to start fixing it up again, "Don't ever do that again, girl."

I just grinned up at his towering figure and gave him a big bear hug, "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Good. And why are you still cleaning out your locker? I've finished that shit ages ago." Gippal asked, his arms still around me, and jutting his chin out towards my halfway cleaned out locker.

"Well, I was busy preparing myself for finals, so I really had no time cleaning it out." I looked into his swirly, green eyes and sighed.

"Ehh, I'll help you then." He uncoiled his arms from my waist and took all the papers from the locker, not struggling at all, and threw them away in the nearest trash can.

After finishing his part in under 30 seconds, my locker was practically empty, aside from three books piled up above one another. I was about to reach out and grab it, but Gippal gently slapped my hand away and grabbed it all with one hand. He wrapped his arm around my waist as soon as he and I were settled and led us out towards the entrance of the small school.

Gippal and I were nothing more than best friends. We've had feelings for each other one time, that was the time right after puberty, which lead to a dramatic confession and us eventually dating. But soon after about two or three months, we found it a little weird in some parts and broke it off. We don't regret it, but we plan on never ever getting close to that again. Our friendship is very strong, growing up with each other ever since I moved to Besaid from Bevelle when I was three, and we actually are next door neighbors. He was and still is my shoulder to cry on and I will always love him for himself and for everything he has done for me.

When my father died, my mother, older sister, and I were upset, Gippal would give me a shoulder to cry on. When my mother started drinking and doing drugs, Gippal would give me a shoulder to cry on. When my sister left me alone with my mother to pursue her dream of modeling and singing, Gippal would give me a shoulder to cry on. When my mother would beat me whenever she was drunk, Gippal would give me a shoulder to cry on and sneak through my window to sleep with me that night just because I needed somebody. It was vice versa as well, especially since he has bickering parents that don't even know if he's home or even care, either.

Everything Gippal has done and is still doing now, I was always the first person that he experienced it with. Like his first kiss when he was 12, his first girlfriend when he was 14, and the first person he had sex with when he was 15 (which was merely for experimentation). Otherwise, Gippal and I have done everything together. And with what he has experimented with me he has done with several other girls, of which I'm surprised he doesn't have gonorrhea or syphillis yet.

"So Yuna, has Lenne sent it to you yet?" Gippal asked ushering us to his car.

Now to the Lenne subject. Lenne is my older sister. She is 5 years older than me, making her 22. Lenne Braska is an international supermodel and world class singer, her songs hitting above the charts in Spira. Everybody knew who she was and everybody knew I was related to her in Besaid. They even have a shrine of her somewhere in the Besaid city hall. Other than that, Lenne left my mom and I when she was 18 to pursue her dream, which has obviously came true. Once a week, Lenne would send money from her new home in Zanarkand, specifically for me. My mother works at a decent job where she can pay for herself and her home, yet she doesn't do crap to support me. Yeah I said it, Yuna said the 'C' word. But anyways, I have a job and I pay for myself. My clothes, my school supplies, and all the like. I don't have a car. Gippal drives me to every place I need to go to. But, there were several incidents where I actually stole my mother's car when she was knocked out. I actually do have my license, its just that I'm currently saving the money I receive from Lenne and my job combined. I, in fact, currently work as an intern in the nearby hospital. The wage is decent and I've been working at my very old friend, Wakka's, restaurant. The restaurant was called Vidina's, Wakka's baby named after his baby, and I've been working there for about two years. But I've never really had the time to really go and buy myself a car, that and the fact that I'm still a minor and my mother wouldn't even look my direction when she's sober.

"Um, no. But it's probably going to be in the mail by the time I get home," I said as Gippal opened the passenger seat door of his car and gestured for me to get in, "it's Friday and, well, you know the routine."

"Right," he nodded his head as he shut the door once I was settled in, and once he opened his door and sat in his seat, buckling his seatbelt in the process, he turned to face me before he started the engine, "have I ever told you that your sister is smoking hot?"

I rolled my eyes for the billionth time since I've been with him, "Um yes. You and the whole male population of Spira."

"Alrighty then," he slipped on his sunglasses and backed out of the parking space, "so where to?"

"Hmm," I put on my sunglasses as well and faced him, "let's go to Oaka's. I'm sort of famished."

Gippal nodded his head in agreement and drove off.

**. . .**

After hanging out until 11 PM, Gippal decided it was a good time to get home. When we arrived at our two houses standing next to each other, we heard loud bickering and things crashing in the larger, well-maintained peach stucco house that looks gorgeous on the outside but, in actuality, is ugly on the inside. The light blue shingled house next to it was smaller, and was a two in one deal. The gardening outside was not great, with the greenish-yellow grass with weeds sprouting out. And what's even uglier was what's in the inside, with the TV blaring at its highest volume and a drunkard running around the place with whatever drug _it_ was taking placed in the crevice between her index and middle finger. There are times where I just hate that woman.

I unlocked the front door and once I stepped inside, the mental image I was prepared for wasn't true. I sighed in relief of seeing her knocked out cold and sprawled out on the couch with six empty beer bottles scattered out on the coffee table.

Letting out a small frustrated sigh, I immediately stomped my way upstairs. My mother's bedroom door was wide open and you were capable of seeing piles of dirty clothes, empty beer bottles, and some drawers vigorously pulled out. But the thing is is that her bed looked perfectly fine, since she never sleeps in it at all.

I finally reached my bedroom and changed out of my clothes into my PJs. Throwing my dirty clothes into the hamper, I curled myself into a ball on the bed afterwards.

It was a possibility I was sleeping for a while because I heard a loud tap at my window and immediately shot up from my bed. I already knew it'd be Gippal so I carelessly threw the window up to open it and flopped down onto my bed.

"Geez, someone's cranky," I rolled my eyes at his comment and once he saw my response, he threw an envelope on the bed, right in front of me and sat down as soon as the envelope reached the fabric of the blanket, "you forgot to get your mail. You know how dangerous it'd be if your mom got her hands on it."

"Right," I buried my face into my comfortable pillow and purposely tried to kicked Gippal off my bed to no avail, "is there another reason for your being here?"

"Yup." He nodded his head enthusiastically with a big grin plastered over his lips.

It took a few minutes for me to wait for an answer until I spoke up, "Well?"

"You know how my birthday's on Sunday...right?" He poked my stomach until I slapped his hand away.

"Yes," poke, "yes, yes, yes. I KNOW!"

"Okay, well..."

"No trespassing, drug-slash-alcohol use, using my room for,-"

"Yu, just hold up," he gently nudged me," I was thinking about something fun."

"Like...?" I slurred. I couldn't help it. I was exhausted.

"Well...let's just say...it concerns a car." He hinted, waiting for me to answer.

"Hm," I squinted my eyes at him, "no grand theft auto, right?"

"No. Well...no." He narrowed his eyes to think about it for a while.

"Uhh," I groaned, "just tell me already..I wanna sleep."

"Fine fine, impatient," Gippal joked, "it's gonna be..you...me...my baby...and the big open ro-,"

"You're kidding me...right?" He may have been driving for more than 2 years, but I still don't trust him with a car.

He shrugged and raised his eyebrows a little, "Uh..Not really."

"What? Are you delusional or something? Maybe schizophrenzic. Want me to call-,"

"Shut up," he said in a mock-serious tone before he started laughing again, "and...well, I'm technically eighteen now so we can literally just leave anytime soon."

"But-,"

"Well little Yuna, your mom doesn't even bother to care if you're there or not. She just yells at you once you enter the front door when she's all drunk and fucked up. But other than that, she doesn't call to check on you or call the cops to start a search party, so, what's the big deal?"

He's got a point.

"Okay...when are we leaving?"

"...Tomorrow..." Gippal scratched his head, trying to be nonchalant.

"Oka...WHAT?" I sat up from my spot.

"Well, we won't be having all the time in the world to travel around Spira, you know?" He rolled his swirly green eyes and scoffed.

"Eh, that's true," I shrugged my shoulders as I snuggled in with my pillow again, "but I'm still mutual about the idea."

"But Yuna..." Gippal pouted and whined, trying to convince me by using his puppy dog face.

"I'll think about it." I snapped back at him.

"Fine then, you better tell me by tomorrow morning. Actually, right when you wake up I'll be sleeping," he took a pillow from my bed and a blanket that I keep off to the side for him and placed it on the floor as a makeshift bed, "right here."

I lazily nodded my head and yawned.

"Okay, okay...night night Gippallll..." I murmured the last syllable of his name before I fell into deep sleep.

* * *

_Tidus._

"TIDUS!" A chirpy voice yelled off towards my side as I was leaning against my BMW playing with my keys and twirling it around my index finger.

Turning my body towards the owner of the voice, I grinned and waved, "Hey Rikk."

"Tidus, Tidus, TIDUS!" As she was running to me, she had a few bounces in her step. At least she was in a good mood.

"Um, what drugs were you taking?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck.

Rikku ignored it and started doing the rain dance or some shit.

"You will _not _believe what Pops called me about..." She trailed off, but I could tell she couldn't wait to tell me, she was practically vibrating in excitement.

"What?" One of the corners of my lips lifted up and I just had to grin at her.

"POPS-JUST-CALLED-ME-TO-SAY-THAT-YOU-GOT-DRAFTED-INTO-THE-ABES!" After her "confession" she did a dance, while I was still dazed and confused 'cause I didn't understand shit since she said that faster than the speed of light.

"The hell did you just say?"

She stopped mid-moonwalk and just put her hands behind her back and grinned at me, "You got in, Ti!"

It took me a while to realize what she said. I was still looking at her like she was crazy while she looked at me with a ginormous grin on her face and her head nodding up and down.

"Are you shitting me?" I was literally shocked, I never thought the Abes would actually draft me in so early. I'd expect them to draft me by the time I get out of college. The Abes were picky about who they recruited into their team. And being recruited early, very VERY early, was just an honor. Being knighted the king of Zanarkand or anything else will never beat getting recruited into the Abes, "Or did you just drink too much coffee again?"

"No and no. What makes you think that?" Rikku put her hands on her slim hips and narrowed her eyes at me.

_So many reasons._

"Ah, nevermind." I unlocked the car doors and threw my binder on the backseat, as if I need it anymore, school's out.

I sat on the driver's seat and buckled my seatbelt, Rikku following in my footsteps.

She then sighed and placed her feet on the dashboard, reclining the seat as well, "I'm so glad school's out."

Right after I started the car, I didn't back up immediately but just took my black school uniform pullover off, my undershirt being a white t-shirt, "Fuck it's hot."

"What do you expect, Ti? We don't literally live on Mt. Gagazet, y'know." Rikku closed her eyes and grinned.

"Yeah. Sure." I twisted the key in the ignition and set my one-and-only on drive.

"Let's go home, I wanna change. I feel so, not free in this uniform." She piped up.

As I started the drive home, shit just suddenly came into my head. Like how grateful I am to be adopted and molded into this family eight years ago, when I was ten. Reason being, well, my old man was a drunk ass bitch and my mom just left. I love my mom and all and I would've left the old fart too if I were her, but what pissed me off was how she left me alone. With the bastard. She knew he was an alcoholic and abusive, yet she kept me there. But luck came and rescued me when Jecht was caught beating the crap out of me by the neighbors. I was taken to a foster home and Cid found me a month later and took me under his wing. Rikku and I connected instantly and she became my best friend.

When I was young, I was into Blitzball because my old man used to enroll me in those types of classes back then. I quit because I found out I was a natural, and I decided to do stuff my way. Hence, I'm the newest prodigy in Blitzball. My name hasn't appeared in signs yet, but trust me, I'm more than halfway there. I have a full on scholarship in almost every college already, since during the games, representatives of these schools would come up to me and straight-up say it. But it's time to put all those offers to rest since I've already recieved my dream four years short. Fuck college league, I'm getting with the pros as the youngest player they've ever had. I'm graduating tomorrow, as in the ceremony's tomorrow; but, I still just can't screw up my blitzball life yet. So no partying before games or drinking...or getting high. High school blitzers party like college kids, but pro-blitzers party like rock stars - maybe even more crazier - especially if you're a pro-blitzer from the city of neverending partying. So practicing harder gives even greater benefits after a great game.

We got to our house, a pretty modern looking non-mansion type two-story building that stood on a hill in Zanarkand which overlooked the city. Rikku immediately got out of the car once I set it on park and ran to the front door, unlocking it with her own set of keys. While she was busy with that, I grabbed my binder and slung my pullover over my right shoulder, closed and locked the doors of the car, and walked towards the house. I entered the house and closed the door behind me and started walking towards my room on the second floor. My room was a dirty mess, clothes everywhere, my bed not made, and my trash can fell over too.

It looked like a tornado passed by my room. I started picking up the papers that were crumbled into balls and scattered all over the floor. During the time, I found a love note from Dona confessing her love to me and how much I mean to her. Bitch was a skank, she already had that steroid user, Barthello, all up in her ass. Literally.

It's not that I was jealous, hell no was I, but I'm just in no mood to settle down. Girls _are_ important, but Blitz is way _more _important.

Well, it's not like I don't have a sex or love life. I just don't like bringing them home and meeting the family and all that, bitches would start and try to get all lovey dovey with me, and like I said, it's just too much for now. Maybe later when blitzball isn't running my life.

I changed out of my school uniform and put on a pair of jeans, a plain gray t-shirt, and my shoes. Before leaving the room, I passed by my mirror and gave myself a once over and ran a hand through my hair. I closed the door once I left and waited in the living room downstairs for Rikku.

**. . .**

"So Pops said that he was leaving tomorrow for Bikanel..." Rikku said as she sucked on her popsicle.

"Does he know that I got-,"

"No duh he knows! He's the one that told me, dummy!" she bit off a piece of her popsicle and turned to look at me, "But he also told me that Brother's gonna be coming down here for the summer...not to forget his homies."

Ah, Brother. Forgot to mention him. He's my older foster brother. His real name's Aniki, but I've been told to call him Brother when I first met him. Brother's not that bad of a guy, he's just...scary. Not intimidating scary, but, psychotic scary. I really don't think he's ever liked me. I was thinking that it was because I get some and he doesn't, but it's whatever. He's in college, thank Yevon, but he comes home every summer from Bikanel and does or _tries_ to do whatever.

"Well, I'm sorry if I didn't understand your alien-like language from earlier." I grinned and chuckled at my own joke.

"But, you know I can't help but feel excited for you, Ti!" Rikku reponded as she was examining her orange manicured nails, "Oh yeah! Ti, just to let you knooow, you start blitz practice tomorrow in the early mornin' hours."

Ugh fuck. I completely forgot that the Blitz Cup Champs were coming up and there are preliminary rounds where the Abes have to go against the other 4 districts here in Zanarkand. The greatest competitors were the C-South Duggles. But we all know that the Abes always end up winning with one point more in the goal before the end of the 4th quarter.

I responded with a shrug of my shoulders and smile on my face, "Eh. It's probably not gonna be the harshest thing that'll happen to me."

* * *

_Yuna._

I woke up early the next day to a 7.0 earthquake.

"Yuna, Yuna, Yuna!"

No wait, it was just Gippal shaking me.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?" I groaned and tried punching him away.

"So did yo-,"

"Yes, okay! We're going! Just let me sleep."

Stupid Gippal and his ridiculous ideas.

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P.S. If you plan on looking at the outfits, Yuna dresses how I want her to dress and the same goes for Gippal, Rikku, and Tidus. If it makes them seem outta character, my bad. It's just how I like style.

I hope you like it, please review, please! Please? Anyway, I'll be having the next chapter up soon. Thanks! And and, I'm writing another story at the same time. So...yeahh.

-igmv


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